December

I cannot believe Christmas is over already. December flew by since we were so busy with activities with Kiki. She had quite an action packed December with meeting Santa twice, making Christmas cookies, playing with cousins, and shopping with mommy and daddy. She was quite the busy little girl.

In the beginning of December we took her on a train ride with Santa. She loved the train ride, loved the scenery, but was a little freaked out about Santa until he gave her chocolate. The chocolate made them fast friends. The train ride was really great and something I will definitely do again with her. A few weekends after the train ride she had the opportunity to meet Santa again and have breakfast with him. Not only did she have breakfast with Santa, but she also had both sets of grandparents there with her to share in the memories. She absolutely loved all the attention and really enjoyed Santa that time. We all had a lot of fun at the breakfast and the food was fantastic.

Besides the Santa events she made Christmas cookies and also spent a lot of time shopping for her parents, dog, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. She does love to shop. What she loved more then the shopping were the people and decorations all around. She was fascinated with all of the lights this year. I have to say, this December was a lot of fun. She really embraced the holiday season.

She really loved the preparations for Christmas this year!!!

I know this is late!

I have been meaning to add these pictures in for awhile, but I keep forgetting. Back in October Z, my sister, brother-in-law, and father got to celebrate the big win for the Phillies at the WORLD SERIES GAME. Z had a blast even though he had to spend one night sitting it the rain before he got to go back for the BIG WIN!!! Of course he says it was all WORTH IT, and he loved being at the game/s. So here are the pics of the game.

Pics from Kiki's swim classes

I wrote two previous entries about Kiki's swim classes. She really loved the classes. We have taken a break for the winter months because she hates having her hair dried, and I cannot have her leave with a wet head. We will sign her up again in the spring. By then she will move up a class and the activities will be different. She will enjoy that.

I am posting some pics of Kiki and her daddy in the pool. They really loved spending the quality time together and still do a lot of the activities together outside the pool. They are really cute together.

P.S. Ignore the date on the pics. My camera is old and keeps changing the date.

A Pet Peeve of Mine

I just need to vent about Christmas music starting the day after Halloween. I mean, come on now, we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving. Give me a break! By the time Christmas comes around, I will be sick of the music. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, and I love Christmas music. It is my favorite holiday; however, I also really like Thanksgiving. I would like to celebrate Thanksgiving before the Christmas holiday begins.
Now, some may say just don't listen to those particular stations. I do agree, but when I am flipping through the stations and I hear a song I like it is hard to keep flipping. I love Christmas music, which means sometimes it is hard to keep going past a song I really enjoy. My saving grace is that Kiki loves her Sesame Street cd and is insistent on listening to it when she is in the car. Usually this particular cd would not be seen as a "saving grace", but for now it stops me from flipping to the Christmas music.

Thanks for letting me vent.

More Halloween

On Halloween I picked Kiki up from daycare early and we came home and made pumpkin and bat cookies. She had so much fun using the cookie cutters and making the cookies. She was cracking me up. She kept smiling at all of her creations and rolling the dough back up and starting all over again. After many remakes I was finally able to get them into the oven. She loved eating them as much as she loved making them. The cutest thing was when her daddy got home and she got to share her cookies with him. She loved his enthusiasm over her creations. She is so cute!!

HALLOWEEN

Hello All:

It has been awhile. I lost the cord to the camera to download pics and that has been my main delay. So, here I am with a lot of pics to share. I will share a little at a time since I want to focus on each special event in Kiki's life. The pics I am sharing today are from Halloween. Kiki was the cutest little butterfly. She loved her costume so much that it has now been added to her dress up clothes. Last year was her first Halloween and she was not a fan of the whole dress up idea. This year it took all my energy to not let her go to daycare in her costume every day before Halloween. She could not wait to wear the costume in front of all of her friends. I had to hide the costume from her so she would stop asking to put it on each day. She is so funny.

She also loved trick or treating. We worked all week on what to say and she had it down. When we got to the doors she went completely mute, but she had no problem grabbing her candy out of the candy bowl, throwing it in her bag, grabbing her daddy's hand (without saying thank you first) and heading to the next door. Once we got home she ran to the couch and emptied her bag to check out her loot. We were cracking up. Lollipops were her favorites this year. She also loved giving candy out to the trick or treaters. We each had our own baskets for the kids to choose from and she loved that idea. She likes to feel like she is part of the whole thing. I have to say Halloween was a complete success for us this year.

Here are her pics.








Kiki getting ready to go trick or treating.







Kiki playing in the playground after her school's parade.






Kiki pulling her MehMeh out the door to go trick or treating. She was ready to go with bag and all. =)

Best Smile!

In my opinion, Kiki has a smile that lights up a room. It really is the best smile. When she is sad if you ask for smile she will stop her crying to give you the biggest, cheesiest smile and it really just lights up the whole room. I love this kids' smile. Of course I am bias since she is my little princess, but I am sure you will all agree that her smile is the best. I got this smile below because she was so happy to be eating an orange. Look at that great BIG smile. SO CHEESY AND SO CUTE!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

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October Already!

The weeks feel like they are going by slow, but the months are flying by. Does that even make sense? I just cannot believe it is October already. Kiki, Z, and I have been so busy with life and getting things in order of our life that we did not even realize that October appeared. We haven't even gotten our Halloween decorations out yet. I just bought Kiki's Halloween costume last week. She is going to be a butterfly. She LOVES the costume. I will post pics after Halloween.

I must say I do love this time of year. I liked it better when it was cooler out; this hot weather is annoying me. Regardless, I do love the fall. The leaves on the trees are beautiful. The ones on my grass however are annoying. What can you do, it comes with the month. Our neighborhood is full of trees (minus the one that fell on our house this summer) and so the leaves are abundant this time of year. My neighbors and I have sat out and complained about it together while we are spending our free time cleaning them all up. The good thing is that Kiki has her own rake and she loves to rake leaves. She doesn't get much, but she has a lot of fun.

Well those are my thoughts on October.

DINNERS

The hardest thing about going back to work is getting on a schedule and getting dinner made. We keep saying we are going to stop ordering out, but dinner time comes and nothing is ready to be cooked. So, we end up ordering out. We try to plan, but that is useless as well. WE HAVE TO GET BETTER AT THIS!!!! It is something we struggled with last school year and again are struggling with it. In the summer this was not a problem. I was on such a good schedule. KiKi and I would play all day and by 4 I would begin prepping dinner while she played. Now I get home at 4 and need to settle in before I can even think about prepping. I know I should be planning the night before, but by the time Kiki gets to bed I am exhausted and still have papers to grade. So what do I do? I grade for a little bit and go to bed to get up the next morning and start all over again. It is CRAZY. So my weekend work is to figure out a way to get better organized during the school year. I need to get better at this.

Swim Lessons Again

Well Kiki and I stared swim lessons again, but now we are taking them on Saturdays. The good thing about that is now her daddy can come with us. I think she really enjoys having both of us with her in the pool. She likes being handed off from one to the other during different activities. She is so cute. When she woke up this morning we mentioned the swim lessons and she was so excited. After breakfast we got her ready and she did the Kiki happy dance (clapping, squealing, and turning around). By the time we got to the pool she was ecstatic. The class is only 30 minutes, but that is long enough in the pool at her age. I am enjoying the classes as much as her. What a great family activity.

The Job

Thanks everyone who commented about the job situation. I am still adjusting. It has been harder than I ever anticipated. I know eventually it will all work out, but right now I am still stressed out about the whole situation. I am also still second guessing the whole thing, but now I am stuck. As of right now I am still on a mission to stay at home while Kiki is growing up. I would like to return to teaching once Kiki and any other children we may have are in school themselves. At that point I think I will be ready to teach again and be able to focus. Who knows.

Crazy Hair Day

Kiki's daycare had crazy hair day on Thursday, 8/28/08. When I went to pick her up her hair was fantastically crazy. She looked like a WHO. I was cracking up. The amazing thing is that when I put something in her hair she takes it out right away. For them she kept her crazy hair in all day. As soon as we got in the car she tried to take out all of the hair bands. I convinced her to keep them in until we got home and I got some pictures of her. She cooperated with me, and I was so happy. As soon I got finished taking the pics she pulled them all out.

Here are the pics!




Doesn't she look SO CUTE?!?!?!

What was I thinking?!

I just started at a new school district. It was hard leaving my friends behind and the kids I grew to really care about over the years, but the school was being ruined by choices being made and I was not happy there anymore. I still ask myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! I knew the curriculum, I had friends, I liked the kids, and I was close to home. Now I know a few people, I am unfamiliar with the curriculum, and the commute is longer. Again, WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!? I know in the long run it will be the better move, but right now I am overwhelmed and tired.

My ultimate goal is to find a way to stay home with Kiki. I would love to be a stay at home mom, but we cannot afford that. This year I am hoping to find something that is actually legit so I can eventually stay home with her. Any suggestions?

The good thing is that Kiki loves her daycare and has a lot of friends there. She gets so excited to go there in the morning. At least I know she is happy to be there. Even though I would rather be with her, I know she needs the socialization in her daily life.

Taste buds and ICE CREAM

Kiki seems to have her father's taste buds in most foods. She loves spaghetti, lemon water ice, cereal and milk, orange juice, is not a big fan of beef, loves fish, etc... It seems if he has a favorite dish it is now both of theirs. The one thing she loves like I do is soft chocolate ice cream with chocolate jimmies. I LOVE THAT and so does she. At first I would get a cone and we would share it, but now the cone is hers and she occasionally gives me a lick. HOW NICE!!! She is so cute when she is eating the ice cream. You can tell she is savoring every lick. It gets all over her and her clothes, but she does not care. The only care she has is that each drop on her clothes is one less drop for her to eat. We do not have ice cream often, but once in awhile it is a nice treat and she loves it.

You can see from the pictures that she is really happy and messy while eating ice cream. I love these pictures. They are the epitome of childhood summer days.

More Vacation Pics

Now that we are home and back into our daily routine, we miss the lazy days of vacation. We stayed in the Lake Harmony Estates so we also got to use the private lake and beachfront for the Estates. It was really nice. Kiki and R loved the beach and playing in the sand. Kiki is definitely a beach girl like me. We could spend all day at the beach and have a great time. She just loves digging in the sand and snacking. I just love the beach (the smells, the sand, the relaxation, the water, etc...).

Besides hanging at the beach we also spent time hanging around the house and letting the kids play. They had a lot of fun playing with the toys, treating their Pop Pop like a horse, and pushing each other on the cars. It was nice to see them together and sharing so well.

The kids seemed to enjoy the time in the morning before we set out for the day. They loved to hang out with each other and play with all of the toys. I know Kiki really misses her instant play date since now she only has me to hang out with in the morning.

Such a BIG GIRL now!

As you can see from Kiki's pictures, she has a lot of hair. She was born with a full head of hair and it was and still is thick. With that said she had her 4th (for a 1 1/2 year old) hair cut today. The past three haircuts she has sat on my lap and been very good. Today she sat on a booster seat all by herself. She is such a BIG GIRL now. She was so proud of herself and so good. I did not have my camera with me so I took the picture with my cell phone. Her hair cut looks great and makes her look older. I cannot believe how quickly she is growing. It really is going by too quickly, but each milestone has been so much fun.

The Candy Man

During vacation we visited Callie's Candy Factory and Pretzel Factory in the Poconos. It is a tradition that we have been doing since we were kids. I was so excited to introduce Kiki to these traditions. When you visit the Candy Factory Callie (the real candy man) comes out and does a show where he tells you how he makes his candy. He gives away all of his secrets (or most of them) and tells you how simple it is to make the money yourself. He of course does not recommend doing so since he does not want to lose your business. It is a funny and great show and he is a loud man.
I could not wait for Kiki to see him. Within a few minutes she was bored and her father took her outside. I stayed for the show. At the end of the show he gives out free samples. Kiki and her father came back in for that part and she loved the chocolate.

After the Candy Factory we always go to the Pretzel Factory for lunch. There we eat Pretzel Pizzas and Pretzel Dogs and hang out. The kids (and their dads) had fun hanging out on the motorcycle in the lobby. I have great pics from both the Candy and Pretzel Factory. The kids had a lot of fun.

Family Vacation

Kiki, her cousin, and her Pop Pop

Kiki and her cousin

Kiki and her dad

This past week my family went away on vacation to Lake Harmony, PA. It was nice to get away and spend time together. We went away with my sister, her son and husband and my parents. Kiki loved all the attention and loved waking up to an instant play date with her cousin, R. R and Kiki had so much fun playing together and hanging out with their grandparents.

Kiki loved the idea of vacation. She got to play all day with her daddy and cousin, and get spoiled by her grandparents. This was the first week long vacation we took since she was born. We usually take long weekend trips. It was nice to break from the norm of our schedule and do activities as a family again.

Longwood Gardens

Kiki and I met a friend and her son at Longwood Gardens this past Monday and it was beautiful. What a great place for kids. It is so pretty and they have a "Children's Garden" now as well. I think it opened in October of 2007.

Kiki loved the fountain show, the garden and got soaked in the water garden area. She had so much fun. Her friend she was with, A, and her are so cute together. They had a blast running around the place together. They have been friends since they were 7 weeks and have always had this amazing relationship. When I told Kiki we were going to see A on Monday her whole face lit up(That great smile I talked about before). It was great to get out with my friend and her son.

If you live in the area and are looking for something to do than make sure you check out Longwood Gardens.

Off to Grandfather's House We Go

This weekend my husband, daughter, parents and I went to visit my grandfather. It was so great to see him. Since he lives about 2 hours from us we do not see him as often as I would like. He was really excited that we visited him and was really happy to see Kiki. She loves her great grandfather. All she wanted to do was take his hand and lead him around his house. They were really cute together.

My grandfather lives on a bay and so there is always fishing and crabbing involved when we visit him. Kiki took part in action during this visit and actually caught a crab. I missed it the whole thing because I was inside helping my grandfather pack some things up, but my dad videotaped it for us. I am looking forward to watching the video. Kiki came in and was so proud of herself.

The picture above is from our visit last summer when Kiki was only 5 months old. I did not get any pics during this last visit because I lost my camera.

Goodbye Tree

Well the adventure is over (in regards to the tree). Thursday morning the guys came to remove the tree from the front of the house. I was happy to see the tree removed from my front doorstep, but sad to know that the tree would no longer be standing proudly in front of my house. I loved that old maple tree. It protected us from the late day sun, and gave us privacy. It was a great tree. My daughter was in amazement watching the tree taken down. The picture is her standing at the front door in total awe as they took care of the stump. It was if she was saying Goodbye Tree. I think she was a little sad to see it go as well.

The tree was removed rather quickly (a little too quickly if you ask me). Don't get me wrong, I wanted tree to be taken care of, but the the guys who did it were so quick. It kept banging back into the house. They knew what they were doing, but I was still nervous. Anyway, the tree is gone, the damage seems to be minimal, and the house has proven itself to us (it sure can protect us).

So all I can say is Goodbye Tree. We will miss you.

Another Adventure

Hello!

Kiki and I sure did have another adventure today. A tree came down on our house. At 4 the house shook like I never felt anything shake. I looked out my front window and saw nothing but tree. I looked out the front door and our front tree greeted me. I called my husband at work, told him to get home, and took the baby, dog and books down to the basement to wait out the storm. My neighbor called about 45 minutes later to make sure I was okay and to tell me the storm had passed. I spent the rest of the evening meeting my neighbors and discussing the tree. Thank goodness Kiki, the dog, and I were all okay. The house seems fine so far, but tomorrow the tree will be removed and we will see the damage (hope there is minimal).

Mother Nature has a funny sense of humor because just this morning we had an exterior door put on and now it is covered with a tree. At the same time, Kiki, dog and I are fine and we got a chance to socialize with our neighbors. When you put it all in perspective it could have been worse. We were lucky and we are all safe.

The picture above was taken by one of my neighbors. My neighbors have all been great. They have taken pictures, stopped to check on us, and one neighbor even offered to bring us dinner. We are lucky to be surrounded by such nice people.

I hope everyone's evening was less eventful than mine. Talk to you all later.

A Great Group of Friends

Today Kiki and I had the pleasure of having lunch with some friends from our mommy's group. One of our friends, we will call her M, and her family (hubby and two adorable kids) are moving away. Kiki and I will miss them terribly. We have known M and her oldest, we will call her E, since E was 2 weeks old. I cannot believe all the kids in the group are over 1 already. It seems like yesterday we all met at a hospital class when our little ones were less then 2 months and we were just trying to make it through the day with our newborns. We all grew together as moms and bonded during this special and frenzied time of our lives.

Now the kids are all walking, talking, and full of energy. It has been great watching them all grow up together. Although I did not get together with them as much as I would have liked during the school year ( I was so overwhelmed and just made it through each day trying to enjoy the little time I had with Kiki after school and before bedtime), I always know this amazing group of women are there for me and their kids and Kiki are great friends. I was so happy to reconnect with these women when the school year ended, and Kiki and I had time to spend with everyone. Today was a great lunch with the ladies and the kids. It was so great to get a chance to say safe trip and safe move to M and meet her new little one, A.

Well M, I will miss you terribly. Lets not lose our connection and keep in touch. Goodluck with the move and make sure to email when you arrive safely. Kiki and I will also miss E terribly. Keep us posted on your family through emails and pics and we will do the same. You are great friend and terrific mother. I know we will meet up again. Whenever (or if ever) you come back to visit, we would be happy to have your family stay with us. Let me know. Our door is always open.

Have a great day everyone. Kiki and I are off to another adventure. =)

Swim Classes

Kiki and I started swim classes today at the Y. She was so excited to get into the pool and splash around, but once we got in she became very timid. This was only her second time in a big pool; I could imagine she was a little nervous. I was with her the whole time (holding her close as we sung songs) and after about ten minutes she was splashing around and trying to kick. She loved getting out of the pool and counting to three to JUMP back in ( while I had a tight grip on her of course).

I was so excited to start the classes with her. It is something I have wanted to do since she was born, but just never made it to the Y to sign up. Well now we are signed up and really enjoying them so far. One class down and already she is kicking in the water. I want her to appreciate the water and learn how to act in it as well.

I am looking forward to the future classes and spending this quality time with Kiki. She gets this great smile on her face when she is really happy and since class she has had that smile on her face. When I ask her if she liked the pool she say "YES!" and gives me that great smile. She did not want to take her bathing suit off and when we got home tried to put it back on herself.

She is napping now and we have errands to run this afternoon, but later I am going to let her get into her little pool. She is going to be so excited. Of course it is not as cool as the BIG pool, but she loves that little pool.

Have a great day everyone.

My little Reader

From the start of KiKi's life we wanted to make sure she appreciated the written word. This is one of my favorite pictures of KiKi and her father reading together. She looks so engrossed in the newspaper.

The other pictures are from last summer. She actually looks like she is reading the books. She just loves to look through books and point at the pictures. Even her daycare teacher told us how much she loved books and that KiKi always made her way to the book shelf a few times during the day at school.

Now she carries books with her everywhere. Most kids have binky's or blankets as their comfort lovey's, but my daughter has books. As an English teacher this makes me so proud. I guess she gets her love for books from both her father and me. We both love to read and we read just about anything. Right now I am in the middle of two novels and my husband in the middle of one novel. It is safe to say that she sees us with books in front of us a lot and loves to mimic us. I cannot say it enough, SHE IS SO CUTE (and SMART). =)

Introduction to our little Princess

Hi Again! I wanted to introduce my daughter to you all. She arrived kicking and screaming into the world in 2007. She is now a year in a half and she is a lot of fun (most of the time). I started with this picture because her expression is priceless and one she still gives when she is annoyed. She cracks me up. Her nickname is KiKi so that is what I will call her on this blog. She has completed our family and brought my husband and I closer as a couple and as friends. Together we are a team and now that we are reaching the terrible twos (6 months early) team play is important. So here she is. My little princess. Isn't she so cute?!?!?!?!

Hello World!

Alright, here I am blogging again. Some of my oldest friends have blogs on this site and as I was reading I thought what a great way to communicate with people I have lost touch with and people I talk with everyday. It is just a great way to get your life story out there for people to read about (even if you don't care what I have to say)! I am going to post about life in general for me and my family. I will discuss the adventures we take, the activities we do, and joys of living within our little family (daughter, dog, husband, wife). The one goal I have for myself is to live life to the fullest every day. When I look back on my life I do not want to have any regrets. I have the same goals for my daughter. I want her to enjoy each and every day we spend together and look back on her childhood with fond memories. Her father and I are a great team, and I hope she appreciates and loves all the adventures we will embark on as a family. So here it is- Life: Enjoying it FULLY!!!